


A Matter of Light

by sinisterkid92



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Canon Divergence, Dark Rey, F/M, Fix-It, HAE, Happy Ending, Light Ben, Spoilers, Spoilers for The Rise of Skywalker, The Rise of Skywalker - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-21
Updated: 2019-12-21
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:47:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,382
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21879862
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sinisterkid92/pseuds/sinisterkid92
Summary: SPOILERS FOR TROSRey kills Palpatine and turns. Ben has to save her."When Leia died and her saber stabbed through his chest she regretted her choice immediately. All she was was tired. She wanted the battle that raged inside of her to be gone, she wanted clarity, just like Ben did. It would be her undoing. Her need for peace, to be at peace."
Relationships: Kylo Ren/Rey
Comments: 19
Kudos: 230





	A Matter of Light

**Author's Note:**

> Another fix-it, this one a little bit different from the last one.
> 
> (I know I have an in-progress AU and I'm planning on going back to it, my health just hasn't been cooperating with me this fall/winter)

It smelled cold and wet. The chill inside the cave was the kind that seeped into the marrow of your bones, infiltrating the blood cells and spreading throughout the body. It was deep, unavoidable, and all she wore were the same type of clothes she wore on Jakku. Not made for the cold and rain on this planet. 

She didn’t know if the Resistance had followed her, didn’t know how they were faring in the battle if they did. The outside world didn’t exist here, they could’ve been at the planet’s core for all she knew. Even if the Resistance hadn’t followed her, even if she was all alone, she had to do something. She had to come and face him, face the evil and at least try to stop him. Who was she if she didn’t? 

The lightsaber vibrated in her hand. It was heavy, heavier than it had been in a long time. Her arms were tired, her whole body screamed and ached with the exhaustion of the past day. She’d felt it when she fought Kylo, felt the tiredness and weariness at meeting all of his blows, of trying to win a battle she wasn’t even sure she wanted to win. Underneath the mask of Kylo was Ben. They were the same person yet not. Maybe it was only Rey and Leia that knew that distinction, who could see the difference.

When Leia died and her saber stabbed through his chest she regretted her choice immediately. All she was was tired. She wanted the battle that raged inside of her to be gone, she wanted clarity, just like Ben did. It would be her undoing. Her need for peace, to be at peace. 

That much was evident as she stood alone before Palpatine and knowing what needed to be done. She did not know what would happen after she killed him. She didn’t know who she would become and what would happen with the battle raging outside. Would she turn on her friends, or would it be a battle for another day? Would she slowly chip away at the Resistance as Palpatine did when Anakin Skywalker was still good, biding her time for maximum power and casualty?

The lightsaber trembled in her hands, her resolve faltering. It was not possible to let him live. She couldn’t. If she killed him she lost herself, though. She knew she brought hope, she knew that without Ben Solo she was all that was left. Maybe only today, maybe another one would rise in the force. People were dying today though, she could feel it. Feel the force fizzle out, like a candle blown out in a dark room. One after another.

“Your friends are dying,” Palpatine said, his body hovering above hers, menacing and powerful despite looking so weak. Her heart clenched. “The longer you hesitate the more of them die. You can save them.” Then she felt Finn, she felt him fighting out there, and Rose was there too. Then, at the tip of it all she felt… Ben, he was out there somewhere. Kylo was nowhere, but he was coming. 

She could not lead Ben here to die, she couldn’t let him come here to die. She had to save him, save Finn and Rose. She had to trust that love would conquer the sith, that she would find enough strength and light inside of her to balance it out, that would shine through the darkness. Like the candle lights, all that was needed was a small hole for them to climb through. To unravel it all she just needed a spark. She had to trust the spark. 

She had to wonder if Ben Solo felt her resolve, felt her make the decision. Because he was there, sitting in front of her. He must’ve been flying to her, to fight with her. 

“No, Rey, don’t.” His eyes widened, the words coming out of his mouth in almost silent breaths of air. She locked eyes with him as she raised the saber. A single tear escaped her eye as she felt the light inside of her body fill her up, tried to take stock of how it felt, how it pulsated inside of her. This was it.

“I’m sorry.”

The crowd of Sith roared behind her as she raised her saber that little bit more and it swung to slay the emperor in front of her. As his head hit the ground with a sickening thud she fell to her knees, the shock and pain of it rippling up her body as something mystical crept in with it. Like claws climbing inside of her body and rush of fire in her mind the pain of the invasion tore her apart. It feasted on the light, it severed heartstrings and swelled her head until she collapsed with a scream that ripped apart her throat.

Inside the cave, the crowd cheered as a single mass. The sith would rise again and rule the galaxy once more. All the siths of the past would reside in her, the one true heir, the one who would once and for all vanquish the light. 

Outside the clouds grew tighter together and darker, the rain and thunder feral as the wind picked up, whipping across the faces of the Resistance fighters trying to win a war which they knew they had little chance of winning. Hope was all they needed. Hope was the last thing that left and they had to keep the flame burning. No matter how few they were and how big the Sith fleet was, hope hammered in their hearts even though they felt the change in the air and in their hearts. Something was happening, and none of them felt good about it. 

Hope brought civilian ships to Exogul, filling the sky with ships more ships than it could contain. Whatever was rumbling underneath the shell of the earth beneath them there was hope in the sky -- it lived on beyond the Resistance.. 

One of the ships that arrived did not remain in the sky. It made a beeline for the planet surface. Ben Solo had felt it in his soul as Rey was shredded apart by something dark and unnatural. It was not death, nor was it pain from battle or torture. Some part of him knew, intellectually it was apparent what the events unfolding meant. His heart refused to let that knowledge sink it, let it float on top of his consciousness. Instead he ran towards her, ran towards the pain in her. He could not be quick enough as his feet could take him.

Only equipped with a blaster, having throw his old saber in the ocean, he faced off with the Knights of Ren. They knew he had defected, turned, as they saw him. He’d shed the robes, the helmet, he could change his name and fit in anywhere as a nobody. Almost as if he’d planned it from the very start, the helmet had afforded him anonymity, few people knew that behind the mask was Ben Solo. They knew, though. They had been the ones to train him, who helped him create Kylo Ren and the mask he lived in. 

Though the saber had been his weapon of choice for a long time, he was Han Solo’s son and knew how to handle a blaster better than most. It wasn’t as quick and easy as a saber would’ve been, and there would be bruises on his face to show for it, but one by one he picked the men off, his heart knowing and needing him with Rey. Nothing could stop him as he felt her decaying heart, enveloped in something tar like substance. 

The cave chamber was eerie as he entered it. The throne was empty and the severed head of Palpatine lay on the floor, slain for good. Rey was still kneeling on the floor, a dazed look across her paling face as she inspected her hands. 

“Rey,” he said as he stepped towards her, his strides long but careful. She didn’t react to him, just turned her palms over to find the other side. “Rey?”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” she asked, eyes brimming with tears when she looked up at him. He knew what she was going to say before she said it, knew the seduction of the dark, knew how it wrapped around the people it consumed and pulled them under. Now he knew that it was she who kept him afloat all these years, his light that prevented him from succumbing completely. It was his turn to be the lifevest. “It feels so good.”

She shivered, her body rippling with pleasure despite the agonizing pain he felt inside of her. Cell by cell was torn apart. He wanted to cry out, he wanted to hold her. 

“You have to fight back, Rey.” He stood before her, knowing his height and size would have no impact on her anymore. He used to use it to his advantage, most people looked small in comparison. The smile on her face could only be described as wicked, and she placed her hands on his thighs as she looked him in the eyes.

“You were right, _Ben_ ,” she said his name like a joke, her tongue darting out between her lips. “The throne is ours, I turned.” She jumped up on her feet with ease, keeping a close distance to him. “Be with me.” 

Her eyes were devoid of light, just blank without emotion. There was no feeling in them, no Rey. Despite the yearning in his soul, the aching in his bones to touch her and be with her, he could not see her. Except… she closed her eyes, knotted her eyebrows together and fell back a few steps. 

“It’s a battle,” he said. “Every day you will feel it, the pulling and the conflict. The sith will trick you, it will have you believe that you can kill the remaining part of light inside of you by doing terrible things, but you will never find a day of peace.” She scowled at him, baring her teeth in disgust. 

“It’s weakness!” she shouted. Not her, he thought, he could feel it wasn’t her. 

“It’s me.” He took a step after her, following with her stumbles. “Just like it was you, every moment it was you pulling me back. I knew you before I knew of you, and so did you. That’s why you could read my mind, because you were already in there.”

He grabbed her face between his hands. Forceful but not gentle, keeping her there. “Rey, focus on me, focus on the light.”

She ripped herself free, swinging at him with a closed fist that he easily blocked with his hand. “I will kill you.” She grabbed the saber, Luke’s, and it fizzled in her hand, the kyber crystal unbalanced in the hands of a dark force user. It spluttered and wavered while she kept it steady. 

“No,” he said. “If you kill me you will lose part of yourself.” He almost smiled at the irony of it being him saying it. “I once vowed to kill you, to end the struggle.... You will lose most of your power, the darkness in you will swallow you whole.”

“You’re lying.” He made a quick grab for the other saber, he instinctively knew it was his mother’s, making his best attempt at knocking the saber out of Rey’s hand. Unstable as it was he had a shot. Instead she hit back, anger previously restrained spiraling out of her as she hit his saber again, and again, and again with tireless force. 

She was still so unbalanced, the darkness settling with a rapid pace but not yet. She wasn’t there yet, she didn’t quite know how to harness it, couldn’t distinguish it from the light she’d grown accustomed to. Didn’t know how to wield it. He shot out an arm, making her freeze for a moment, enough for him to knock the saber out of her hand and pull it towards him with the force. It would not answer to her with the darkness within her. It was no longer hers.

He threw the sabers away, out of reach for the two of them, and quickly wrapped his arms around her. Despite them being equal in strength in the force he was physically stronger than her. 

He closed his eyes, focusing on something greater, the force beyond. “Be with me,” he whispered in her ear, into the universe. “Be with me,” he said, holding her tighter as she struggled. “Be with us…. Be with us,” he repeated again, and again, until he could hear them, feel them inside of him, feel them in the bond between them. 

Their words took over everything, their strength, their light ebbed and flowed like everything but washed them clean. He closed his eyes, listening to his mother, his grandfather, the people who’d come before them, who lived alongside them, everyone who knew the force. 

Something snapped in him, a tension and another wall that had been built. Tears were flowing freely, like the flip of a switch, and it wasn’t hurt, it wasn’t sadness, it was only relief. He felt her there, next to him, within him, She was there again. He felt the Sith burn away, releasing their hold on her. 

Then he felt her, her head on his shoulder and her body shaking. Slowly she raised her head to meet his eyes.

“Ben?” she gasped, a tired smile and eyes wide and brimming with tears. There she was, he thought, but he couldn’t smile, the worry inside of him was still far too big. “You’re here…” Her hand cupped his face, tracing his scarless face, his bruised cheek. 

Then she kissed him. She threw herself against him, hands clutching at his shirt, clawing to get closer to him. He couldn’t let go, he could never let go of her again. The smile that grew on his lips was foreign, new, and he couldn’t stop it even as it broke the kiss between them.

Around them the ground was shaking and collapsing, taking the sith with them.

Ben and Rey Solo did not notice. Their world was in them now.


End file.
